Superchunk plays Terminal West April 26

‘What a Time to Be Alive’ surges with wit and urgency

Photo credit: Lissa Gotwals

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE: Superchunk

By Emily MaxwellThursday April 5, 2018 11:33 am EDT

Aging gracefully while adhering to any sort of punk rock ethos can be a difficult thing to pull off. Save for a brief sabbatical in the early aughts, Chapel Hill's indie rock stalwart Superchunk has consistently delivered cutting, relevant fist-pumpers. What a Time to Be Alive, the band’s 11th studio album, surges with characteristic wit and urgency. Never a stranger to brutal honesty, leader Mac McCaughan’s songwriting is as scathing and caustic as ever, taking aim at those who are “clinging to the myth that [they] were cheated” and “want to take us all the way back.” Though biting, and at times bleak, What a Time to Be Alive, like many of the band’s previous efforts, is teeming with triumph and jubilation. An absolute thrill of a live act, Superchunk, though approaching 30 years as a band, has remained a razor-sharp, industrious force with which to be reckoned.